I followed the guide on here about how to reduce CPU usage and tweak BI including enabling Direct To Drive recording. But I see that my videos still have the overlay/timestamp. I thought D2D disabled this feature?
Direct-to-Drive enabled but still have overlay
- Thread starter BlackLantern
- Start date
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
if direct to disk is enabled, the overlay will not show in the recorded video. If you see a timestamp in the video is likely from the camera itself.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
I was under the impression BI adds the overlay retro-actively when playing back or exporting from D2D recording
Just disable the checkbox in the 'video' tab. Works for me, as I prefer to use the camera timestamp overlays
(I'm sure someone will come along and tell me why that's all wrong, but there it is...)
Just disable the checkbox in the 'video' tab. Works for me, as I prefer to use the camera timestamp overlays
(I'm sure someone will come along and tell me why that's all wrong, but there it is...)
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
Its all wrong.
Blue iris adds the overlay only if using BVR and the database has not been rebuit/corrupted. On export this option has to be checked. It is also viewable when remote viewing by default (since may of last year) but can be disabled in the webcast tab for that camera. The time stamp will not be viewable on the local console when viewing recorded video (its displayed above the timeline).
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
I mean a full rebuild by deleting the folder not the software process. The timestamp data is not encoded in the video, its kept in the database.
I can verify the overlay is still there on recorded videos. I'm using custom macros to display home automation status (i.e. door open, etc)
The odd thing is when watching recorded content, the timestamp overlay is correct, but all my other macros are showing information which is only accurate at time of playback, not on record. In past versions of BI, the playback would just omit the overlay when using D2D mode.
The odd thing is when watching recorded content, the timestamp overlay is correct, but all my other macros are showing information which is only accurate at time of playback, not on record. In past versions of BI, the playback would just omit the overlay when using D2D mode.
Yes, BI does not save the state of your macros when recording a video clip, so it can only restore timestamps properly. The only way to keep your custom macros intact in the recordings is to disable direct to disk.
Hm. I was just confused that maybe I was not doing D2D correctly since I was still seeing time stamps but it looks like this is normal for BVR formatted videos.
This brings up another question though. I just have everything staying at BVR format. Is it better to only have the current recording as BVR (b/c of hte ability to read/write at the same time) but then convert historic files to another format like mp4 for longer term archives?
This brings up another question though. I just have everything staying at BVR format. Is it better to only have the current recording as BVR (b/c of hte ability to read/write at the same time) but then convert historic files to another format like mp4 for longer term archives?
It isn't worth the trouble to transcode bvr to mp4 automatically. While there is a certain convenience in having your clips already in a common format, it is not difficult to open bvr files in Blue Iris and export them as needed.
Just a thought... while it does not address the desire to have macros captured in recorded clips, if it is critical to capture actual/current macro values periodically or on events, you might consider taking a snapshot. This can be automated.
An example of this is the image thumbnail Blue Iris captures on alerts.